UNIAN
The economy of the country and thus the level of income of Ukrainian citizens could return to pre-crisis level no earlier than in 2018, according to the most optimistic scenario, Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration on holding administrative, social and economic reforms Dymtro Shymkiv has said, according to Ukrainian weekly political magazine Novoe Vremya.
In the wake of recent hryvnia collapse the incomes of the Ukrainian citizens in dollar equivalent have declined to the level of February 2005, the magazine reported.
"Three years is required for stabilization. The first year to stop the decline, then [the next two years] to restore growth and stimulate the economy," Shymkiv said.
According to the plan for Ukrainian economic recovery, by 2020 the country expects a breakthrough, with GDP per capita reaching a level comparable to the current GDP level in Bulgaria - a twofold increase. The goal for the next five years is to "catch up with and overtake" Poland, according to Shymkiv.
However, other experts have said such a plan is too ambitious, because international practice and the experience of other countries that have undergone similar reforms show that the ten-year period set by Ukrainian officials to bring Ukraine out its current economic "quagmire," and let alone outperform Poland, is unrealistic.
"It would be a miracle. Not [just an] economic [one], rather a political and economic one," said Tymofei Milovanov, a professor of the University of Pittsburgh, a member of the editorial board of the public organization VoxUkraine.